An Act Over Frozen Yogurt
by MusicalSage
Summary: "Are you happy?" "I'm doing everything I can do." "But are you happy doing so?" Terra/Aqua, One-Shot.


**First one shot.  
><strong>And, yes, I am rather nervous about releasing it.  
>But let's see how this goes; maybe it's not as bad as I think it will be.<br>Enjoy!~ ^^**  
><strong>*~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~*

It was a quaint and popular frozen yogurt shop to go to—enough people came by for the business to stay in place, but not a lot of people to cause loud noise and distraction while studying.

They also served tasty, frozen treats—and for Aqua, it was a medium-sized peach flavored frozen yogurt with the strawberries and the gummy bears on top, please.

And, of course, she would sit at the table furthest from the door, behind the huge potted plant so that no one can see her—assuming any of her classmates entered the shop—and so she wouldn't get distracted by the various people who come into the shop—the potted plant did a good job at hiding the door.

The window near her seat was nice too—she was able to look out whenever she wanted to stop reading about whatever she was reading about. The materials weren't the most exciting things to read, but if she wanted to graduate college, she had to learn it, right?

The workers at the shop wouldn't bother her, either; she was such a quiet girl, as well as a regular at the shop. They wouldn't distract her except for the occasional, "Would you like some water, miss?" or "How about a refill? You look like you've been working hard," both requests Aqua would thankfully consent to.

So all in all, it was a nice place to study for her never-ending onslaught of exams and homework for college. Pre-med track with a major in molecular biology.

Just like what her parents wanted.

"...gosh, what does insulin work with again?" She muttered tiredly. She stifled a yawn, and then opened up her eighth edition molecular biology textbook to look up the fact that she needed to complete this stupid and frustrating work.

"Excuse me?" A deep voice rumbled above her.

Aqua, who had to stop the urge to sigh annoyingly, looked up and found a guy with a pair of dark blue eyes and spiky brown hair looking at her. "Yes?" She attempted to answer sweetly.

Perhaps that man knew that Aqua was faking the sweetness; if he did, he didn't mention anything of it. Instead, he simply stated, "This place is full, and I noticed that you had some room here at this table. May I sit here? I promise I won't distract you," he added hastily at seeing her textbooks and scattered notes and assignments.

Aqua sighed, but consented with a terse and frustrated, "Sure". The one day the shop had to be crowded was the one day one person too many had to come in and enter her personal space. How awesome was that?

Grateful, the man sat down. He stuck out his hand. "My name is Terra."

The female across from him looked at his hand, then took it and responded, "Aqua."

"A beautiful name." He answered (and secretly enjoyed the fact that she blushed at his compliment). He nodded his head at her books and papers. "And what are you studying?"

"Something busy." She snapped back, then cringed. This guy was only trying to make small talk—albeit sort of an unwelcome conversation—and here she is, snapping at him all because _she_ was tired. He didn't do anything wrong to her; why would he deserve such a treatment?

"I'm sorry," she said to him. "I'm just really tired, and stressed, and...I don't even really like this, anyways." She was surprised at her straightforwardness with this stranger, but it was the truth.

One of Terra's eyebrows went up. "You don't? Then why do you seem so dedicated to studying it?"

Aqua looked distastefully at the textbook. "I'm a molecular biology major. I kind of have to know this, obviously."

Now both of Terra's eyebrows were up. "A major—you're still in college? I could have sworn at least grad school!"

Now Aqua gave a tired smile. "I feel like I work like a grad student, though I've never had that experience, so I probably shouldn't say anything. What about you?"

Terra grinned. "Been there, done that college thing. I don't envy you if all you do is study—do you?"

"Erm..."

Terra chuckled. "I see. Well, don't let me distract you; I don't want to ruin your study streak." And with that, he took out a novel while eating his yogurt, which Aqua recognized as an acai berry flavored with blueberries and granola on top. She briefly wondered if he would always add a "please" at the end of his order, then brushed off such an insignificant matter.

Aqua looked back at her textbook, and then soon became frustrated again; who cares about these kinds of things? Why in the world would she need to know that the hormone insulin is in relation to high glucose concentration, or other such things?

Oh, right—for when she becomes a doctor. Because she _totally_ signed up for that job. Ha.

She sighed, and then looked up at Terra, who wasn't reading a book, but was looking at Aqua being stressed. Oh goody. The one guy who was talking to her, and she probably looked like a frustrated insert-rude-term-for-a-female-dog-here (Aqua was stressed, but not enough to cuss...yet). Today was her day. She really needed a break, and anything—or rather, anyone, as was the case—was welcome. She slammed her textbook closed, then looked meekly at Terra.

"Is it okay to say that I enjoyed your distraction?" Aqua asked.

Terra carefully placed his bookmark in the novel and closed it, laced his fingers together, and placed his chin on top of his fingers. He smiled at the overworked college girl. "Not at all. You really do look like you can use a breather."

"I would say you have no idea, but I think you do have some kind of idea."

He picked up the offending molecular biology textbook. "Maybe not a particular idea about molecular biology, but I still understand the pain of college. Like I said, I don't envy you on the studying portion, but I wouldn't mind reliving college—it was fun."

"What do you mean?"

Terra smiled. "Well, for one, I joined a fraternity, and made some really good friends there. And, of course, there were tons of social events and activities to participate in—theatre, writing, fencing, karate...those kinds of items. They were a nice break from studying and what not." Suddenly he looked at Aqua sharply, dropping his smile. "Are you happy?"

Startled, Aqua blinked at him, then said, "Wha?" Ever so intelligent and sharp, our Aqua.

"Are you happy?"

Aqua had to think; she wasn't _happy_, but she wasn't exactly sad, either (right?). Just tired and frustrated.

"I'm...doing everything I can do." Does that answer his question?

Terra snorted. "A lot of people do. But are you happy doing so?"

Aqua glared at the man in front of her, becoming defensive. How intrusive of him—he wasn't going to drop the subject! "I don't like where this is going. What are you trying to do, psychoanalyze me or something?"

"I merely noticed how frustrated you look—and have looked whenever I see you in here." The older man answered calmly.

"What do you—you mean—you mean you've seen me here before?"

"Where else am I going to get frozen yogurt?" He attempted a small joke, but the younger girl was not pleased, judging by the glare she was giving him. He sighed. "And yes, I have seen you here. You always seem so tired or not excited about this kind of thing—" he pointed at the source of Aqua's despair—"and you would look out the window like you could think of a hundred better things to do than sit here and learn about—what's this?" He saw her notes. "—insulin and glucose." He stared at Aqua.

"What do you want to be?"

"A doctor," she replied automatically and mechanically. Terra noticed the robotic answer she gave, and shook his head.

"No; I'm asking what _you_ want to be."

Aqua fidgeted under his stare. How in the world did he know that she couldn't care less about becoming a doctor? All because she wasn't excited about what she was studying and her wistful stares out the window? Either she was easy to read, or he was just really observant.

"What makes you think I don't want to be a doctor? Perhaps I just don't like this particular subject."

Terra laughed, irritating Aqua further—just what right does he have to laugh?

"True. But, my dear Aqua, you haven't seen yourself in the mirror recently. Like I said, I've seen you look tired constantly; quite frankly, I haven't seen a more dejected looking person like you in a long time. Of course, I was just guessing based off of these facts, but your reactions seem to have supported my hypothesis that you, Aqua, are not happy. Besides, if you didn't like this subject of molecular biology, why major in it?" He shrugged. "Thousands of dollars wasted on tuition, and four years gone to waste of doing absolutely nothing.

"Unless...your parents?"

Aqua sighed dejectedly. At this rate, there really was no point in hiding something from this man—however much intrusive he was, at least he cared hearing about what was going on. Might as well continue; he'll probably guess everything correctly, down to the color of her underwear.

Though it wouldn't be comforting if he knew that, of course.

So she nodded in response, and then said, "My parents...a doctor and a lawyer. Both want a successful child—just one child, they said, for they never make mistakes and don't need a second one—and here I am today; on my way to be a doctor and not loving it."

Terra studied the girl. "Blood makes you squeamish or something?"

A weak smile blossomed on Aqua's face. "That's mostly it. Besides, it's not like I'm clueless about what I want to do; I already have a dream." She paused here, actually wondering if Terra would care about this particular dream.

She was relieved when Terra made a sign that told her to continue this thought.

"I want to be a teacher. Specifically for elementary school; I could never deal with older children."

"Huh," Terra responded. "But your parents didn't find this profession exactly...suiting for their kind of daughter?"

"You," Aqua drawled out, "couldn't be anymore correct. Let's just say that they would let me get an education degree, but I would have to pay for it by myself. Needless to say, I can't."

"But if you could pay for it...?"

"Then, by God, I would take that opportunity and do what I want to do! I don't want to waste my life doing something I don't love...I want to do what _I _want to do. Being a teacher, and being around little children—not in a pedophiliac way, of course," she added hastily.

Terra smiled; if she was making some kind of joke, then perhaps she was loosening up. "I understand, Aqua. Now, you said about paying for it...why not get a job?"

Aqua snorted. "Yeah, because I'm going to get a decent job that can help pay for my loans and what not while I'm in college, right? And besides...just the thought of getting loans scares me. I've heard plenty of things that could go wrong with them—and I'm kind of paranoid about them." She shook her head. "No thanks. I would much rather pay for my own schooling if possible...which is my plan."

"Plan?"

"Yeah; I'll get this degree, and either continue on to get a medical degree, or just intern at a research facility somewhere until I have enough money to pay for my education degree. Or perhaps I can just wait for my parents to die and get my inheritance then, but I wouldn't wish that kind of thing on them. That, and that would be a long wait." She paused, realizing she said that all in one breath. "I mean, I guess I'll be spending a lot of years being unhappy, but at least I can get my happiness at the end, right?" Her gaze turned away from Terra's to the window, her face looking sad and defeated.

Isn't there anyway Terra can help her? He just felt like perhaps he could. Now, it wasn't like he was drawn to her in a mysterious way or anything; he just liked helping people.

And, okay; it helped that she was rather attractive too. So sue him.

"You know...there is someone that can help you, I think. With the money problem, anyways. And though it may not be a prelude to being a teacher, at least it might help you see whether you really do want to work with children or not."

Aqua turned back to Terra, her face starting to brighten. "Really?"

"Positive. Actually, perhaps...yeah, perhaps I can talk to him right now and see if I can wing something." Terra nodded towards her books. "However, I would recommend you to continue studying for this major; I know you really don't like it, but at least you could have a degree and probably get a decent job. In the mean time, at least you would have a part time job where you can deal with kids, and make some money on the side from it. And _then_ see if you still want to be a teacher. A back-up plan wouldn't hurt you at all in the odds that you don't want to be a teacher."

He got up and picked up his novel and melted frozen yogurt.

"Hmm, should have eaten this while we were talking. Ah, well, it should still taste the same—just soupy."

He turned to go, then stopped and looked back at Aqua. "Er, I know this might seem a little forward of me...but how should I contact you so that you can see if...?"

Aqua scrambled to find a pen and piece of paper, then wrote her contact information on it. "There we go."

Terra smiled at her. "I really hope this helps you."

"Well, thank you for helping a stranger."

"And a beautiful one at that." He smirked at her blush. "I wasn't joking about you having a beautiful name, or seeing you here constantly. I will say, however, that I was lying about not having anywhere to sit—but if I didn't lie, then I wouldn't have been able to talk to you, right?" He slipped her a card. "I think we were both lucky that this was my day off. Here's my information if you need anything. Until next time, Aqua." He smiled, turned, and left the frozen yogurt shop with his soupy yogurt and novel.

Aqua looked at the card that he gave her. She saw his name, and then underneath it held the word, _Therapist_.

Well, _that_ explained how he got all psycho-analyze-ish on me, thought Aqua.

And, Aqua realized as she was packing her stuff to go to her dorm, the potted plant didn't do a good job of hiding her from people after all.  
>*~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~*<p>

_First one shot, with really no meaning to it (it was just in my head...and poof! I don't even really remember the inspiration for it). There may be gaps and holes and questions you guys might have ("Well, why didn't Aqua think of this or that?"), and that's fine to ask them! And then, perhaps if I see what you guys mean (and have time to fix such mistakes), I can rewrite the whole thing and make it better._

_And I don't profess to know anything about college work or grad work; heck, I haven't even entered college yet! XD So, I hope I'm not scaring anyone! Though I will say that I agree with Aqua on student loans; they do scare me, especially since you can't claim bankruptcy on them (though I don't have to worry about that for the college I'm going to, thankfully). Also, I'm not calling any major or profession stupid (heck, I want to be a doctor myself!), so I hope no one takes offense to that._

_Thank you for reading this first one shot. I hope you guys enjoyed it! Anyone is welcome to leave some kind of constructive criticism—I would really appreciate it, since those reviews/criticisms would help me improve my writing, I hope._


End file.
